Epiphany II
This school year, as time permits, we will be publishing daily sermons from the previous week:
Jan. 11, 2013: The Journey of the Three Kings by Fr. McKenna
Jan. 14, 2013: St. Veronica of Milan by Fr. Lehtoranta
Jan. 15, 2013: Nursing Homes and Purgatory by Fr. McGuire
Jan. 16, 2013: The Star of Generosity by Bp. Dolan
Jan. 17, 2013: Wholesome Waiting by Bp. Dolan
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The Thuc Bishops: Separating Fact from Fiction, with Fr. Anthony Cekada
Watch the newly posted interview with Fr. Cekada on the topic of the Thuc consecrations:
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✠ The Bishop’s Corner ✠
A bite of Winter caught us last week, as we steadily descended into the coldest days of the year. Fittingly enough, the outside chill matches the coldness of our murderous American society. This Tuesday it will be forty years since the slaying of the innocents became the law of the land. Since then, the faith and morals of the majority have precipitously declined, and our country has been punished with the same violence we inflict on others. The state of perpetual war, the increasing “mass murders,” the loss of personal liberty – these all come as punishment for national sin. Christ our King and Mary our Queen alone have the answers, not “our” politicians or president. Only Our Lord and Our Lady. Let us ask them; let us listen to them.
Come to the school Mass on Tuesday, January 22nd, the traditional Votive Mass of the Holy Innocents, for the end of abortion in America. Come to the pro-life Holy Hour of Reparation which our school children will be making on Tuesday afternoon from 2:25 to 3:25 PM. Come, and pray!
This past week our prayer was directed particularly to the Poor Souls. For three days we had the purple altar for a kind of “Requiem Row.” Two elderly parishioners, †Marty Lierl and †Althea LeBlanc, received their Requiems, and were given a proper funeral, today a rarity. God bless Michael LeBlanc, Althea’s son. The rarest of sons today, he respected his mother’s wishes and gave her a Catholic Mass and burial. Most families today (would your own be no better?) consult only their own convenience. “To bury the dead” is a (very spiritual) corporal work of mercy.
Speaking of the deceased, an alert parishioner (they’re the best kind!) noticed that this Saturday, January 26th, is actually Fr. Randolph’s 25th anniversary of death. †Fr. Roy Randolph, a convert to the Faith and a most gifted and charitable priest, traveled the country offering Mass and preaching in the late 1970s and the 1980s, when Holy Mass and good sermons were scarce. The talents of this truly loving and devoted priest (who loved Our Lady so) were many, and the gift of his preaching lives on in his recorded sermons (see traditionalcatholicsermons.org). Before his death, Fr. Randolph honored us with a Holy Week visit, in which he preached his traditional Tre Ore sermons on the Seven Last Words. Twenty-five years later, we remember his soul.
Please remember the priests and seminarians who will be making their retreat this week at Most Holy Trinity Seminary. A prayer for the preacher would be appreciated too! Our theme will be the Sacred Heart and the Priesthood.
Well, we have announced the theme of our annual parish retreat, which is Lent. Let us fervently invoke the Little Flower to help us begin preparing now so that the fruits of this Lent will be abundant from the very first day.
Today we close the Twelve Sundays of Our Mother of Good Counsel. I know the graces of this devotion have been abundant these last 12 weeks, and indeed since first She came to us in October of 2004. Honor her miraculous image in your home, and count on Our Lady’s powerful counsel, and that of her Son, the very Angel of Great Counsel.
I am offering Mass this morning at “Barnett,” as they call it, Bishop Sanborn’s Brooksville chapel of Our Lady, Queen of All Saints, in sunny Florida. The retreat opens this evening.
May love of Our Lady, and of her Innocents, warm your hearts and homes today.
–Bishop Dolan